BUDAPEST, Hungary, Authorities said they have uncovered a “vast” and “ruthless” network of human trafficking that appears to be aimed at taking advantage of the ongoing European migrant crisis, and one which resulted in the deaths of 71 people in a single incident last year.

A Syrian migrant looks out the window of a commercial train heading toward Austria at the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 6, 2015. Wednesday, Hungarian officials said eight people face charges in a smuggling operation that led to the deaths of 71 people in a single incident in August 2015. File Photo by Achilleas Zavallis/UPI | License Photo

Hungary investigators have been looking into the deaths of those 71 migrants, who were found crammed in a refrigerated truck in Austria in August 2015. Officials say they were refugees — men, women and children — who fled violence in the Middle East for a better life in Europe.

The smugglers packed them in the truck and tried to move them into Budapest. However, they didn’t survive the trip. Officials said when the smugglers found the migrants had suffocated, they abandoned the truck in Austria.

Investigators said the eight suspects in the Hungary case began buying more trucks last year when refugee migrations began to skyrocket. More than 1,100 migrants were smuggled by the group, officials said.